As the technological drive switches gear once again, SAP are forcing businesses to innovate again. Rory Coen was "in the moment" at the recent sapphire now Convention in Florida.
Bill McDermott - co-CEO of SAP - stresses that 'the mobile device is now the new desktop'. It unequivocally couldn't be any other way; not for a modern, dynamic business to gain a competitive edge on its rivals, but just keep pace with them. That's where the benchmark is.
McDermott intimated that SAP had assembled a team and a product-line capable of fulfilling all the requirements of a business with visionary goals. These goals had to include digitising the line of communication end-to-end, not just from the warehouse to the salesman, but to the customer as well, and this should be in real-time. He was addressing the crowded key-note theatre at the recent SAPPHIRE NOW Convention - at the impressive Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando, Florida - which showcased what SAP are now offering to the global market. Dozens of their partners willingly exposed how SAP products were growing their businesses in this new age of mobile technology. SAP spokesmen talked candidly and openly about how their products were best practice for any emerging business.
And it's difficult to understate how mobile the world has become. Just walking through the sprawling convention centre floor illuminated how ubiquitous mobile devices are. Almost every stall was running a raffle for a free iPad; every power-outlet was being consumed by a mobile device as its owner squatted beside it, scrambling to authorise some payment no doubt. Just because they were at a convention doesn't mean that business had to stop at another end.
Real-time access of data
So what exactly are SAP offering? What was this big circus in Orlando all about? Most of the buzz was around SAP In- Memory Appliance software - or SAP HANA - which allows a business to provide real-time access of data to its customers around the globe. It looks like SAP are trying their hand at becoming a database company.
As Director of Solution Marketing, at SAP Business Objects Division, Jason Rose, points out, "SAP HANA is an analytical database which allows you to take information in real time, run reports based on this information and to slice and dice any piece
of these reports however you may want. "Processes that would have taken days are now taking minutes. What is interesting is what our customers will eventually be able to do on their devices; the types of applications they will run, or the ways they will change their routine because the things that used to take a day now only take a minute. This is all ahead of us."
However, it's not just the speed that's impressive, but also its ability to analyse data that wasn't so easy before. SAP made a real push into business analytics three years ago when they acquired Business Objects. "Businesses have been trying for years to get meaningful data out of systems, analyse it and generate reports from it," Rose continued. "The goal of Business Intelligence (or Business Analytics) is to put key information into everyone's hands. We're talking about trying to unlock real potential for our customers."
However, in a typical organisation, only 15-20% of employees have access to this key analytical information. It's useable and it can certainly impact how higher management make decisions to increase profitability. Why shouldn't all employees carry this? A lot had to do with the practical limitations of the available technology in the market, until now.
"A couple of big things happened for us in this area," continued Rose. "SAP bought Sybase last year and they're working on the mobility factor. The Sybase unwired platform allows a business to put this key information onto the mobile devices of their employees."
Co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe announced the next generation will be the Sybase Unwired Platform 2.0, which will contain a software development kit so SAP partners and customers can build their own apps to suit their specific needs. Snade continued to update on how SAP were performing on their promises at SAPPHIRE NOW 2010 regarding On-Premise, On-Demand and On-Device.
On Premise: innovations for Business Suite, Business Analytics, and Business One and Business All-in-One. 40,000+ deals made since May 2010.
On Demand: Business ByDesign has launched and enables SMEs to run their enterprise in the cloud. 500 deals were made since May 2010. Admittedly, that sounds small but in fact, ByDesign is being adopted at double the rate that R/3 was.
On Device: as of today, 4.5 billion mobile devices are connected through SAP technology. That's 90% of the world's mobile devices.
Mobility, people-centric applications, as well as in-memory computing, will form the three main areas of focus for the next year. Gregory Dunn - Vice President, Product Management, Sybase - and his team are focusing on mobility, and specifically businesses being able to mobilise their endusers customers with SAP solution sets.
"It's so important for a business to be digitised from end to end at the moment. Think about the Corporate Treasury Officer, who in the old days would sit in the office all day, and if an authorisation came in, he'd approve it at his desk - now he can go out in the field and do some practical work. So mobility really is key around the productivity aspect.
"A lot of big brands have the same problem. They're happy with the marketing strategy, but they're trying to figure out their mobility strategy. For instance a customer may buy one of their products, but not know about other offerings; with a better mobility strategy, this could be the difference. We have tool sets to help, and Proctor & Gamble are a great example of a company who are trying to leverage it."
© Qatar Today 2011
